Known in the art is a device for radiochromatographic analysis comprising a chromatographic column, a chromatographic detector and a detector of nuclear radiation made as a proportional flow counter. The disadvantages of such devices are the effect of the volume of the counter on chromatographic and radiochromatographic separation and the contamination of the counter with chromatographically separated components of the mixture (the so-called memory effects of the counter). In addition, to prevent the condensation of the components of the mixture the counter is usually heated to a temperature which is higher than the boiling point of the components. However, at high temperatures spurious pulses appear which result in a change of the Geiger plateau of the counter which affects its sensitivity.
The efficiency of the counter, and consequently, its sensitivity depend on the chemical properties of the components of the mixture because of their interaction with the gas filling the counter.
For the analysis of chromatographically separated radioactive components of the mixture there is known an all-purpose device comprising a chromatographic column, a detector of nuclear radiation and a chromatographic detector connected in series along the flow of the substance being investigated. In such a device the detector of nuclear radiation is made as a light-transparent cell filled with a liquid scintillator and a light detector optically connected therewith. The chromatographically separated radioactive components of the mixture being investigated are dissolved in the scintillator and continuously flow through the cell where the radioactivity of the components is measured by the light detector (J. of Chromat., 1973, 76, 13).
In this device there is no necessity to heat the detector of nuclear radiation to high temperatures which makes it possible to investigate a wider range of substances, the volume of the detector does not affect chromatographic resolution, and there are no "memory effects".
However, the sensitivity of such device is limited by the residence time of the component in the throughflow cell. In addition, the sensitivity of the device is affected by quenching with scintillation, chemiluminescence, and limited solubility of the components being analyzed in the liquid scintillator characteristic of the given detector of nuclear radiation.